[applause] [applause] >> in "the new york times," it said a couple of weeks ago that this program is the best kept secret of the federal stimulus act. [applause]

it is not just for san francisco. in the back, small conversations are allowed up here. across the country, over to under 25,000 people will have been hired with this federal stimulus money. over 3600 are here in san francisco. it is unbelievable. [applause] we started in san francisco early. we started in may. we built up really quickly. i was on a lot of conference calls with other states and other cities. i presented our program across the country. i advised folks how to get these types of programs going. invariably, the question i would get -- >> be quiet. thank you. >> thank you. the question i would get is one

of the factors -- is what are the factors that contributed to this. there were a number of them. the staff literally switched jobs midcourse and retained quickly in a project that was brand-new and delivered services. can we give them a hand, please? [applause] it could not have been done without a fantastic management team at the human services agency. it is going to make a big impact on people in san francisco. they are going to be carrying around cash. this program has put over 3600 people to work. [applause] of course, the partnership of

the chamber of commerce -- my first meeting was with the chamber. there is the board. their help at the table was invaluable. the number-one reason, the number one factor, was the leadership of mayor newsom. [applause] where other cities and counties and states had no guidance from the federal government or no relationship, and stayed barely aware of the program, i presented it to the mayor and told him of the risk. he said, "take the risk. let us go for it and do it." he had our back. [applause] he met with the chamber, small- business groups, industry groups, and encouraged them to hire people, saying this was 100% paid. coming from a year -- coming

from the mayor newsom, that goes a long way. he met with the governor to talk about our program, saying "why aren't more guys in california doing this?" having his leadership at city hall is invaluable in moving an initiative like this forward so quickly without any guidance. there is one downside. when the mayor is interested in a project, he wants data almost daily. i gave it to him weekly. what are the numbers? our initial goal inmate is 1000 placements. -- in may is 1000 placements. we kick that in november. after i tested mayor newsom, i said, "we hit 1000." he did not say congratulations. he said our goal was not 2000.

we kick that months later. next, our goal was 3000. we hit three and i interrupted him and said, "our goal is now 3500." we reached it largely because of his leadership. i am very happy to introduce him. everyone give it up for mayor newsom. >> thank you all. this is a pretty extraordinary sight. we had a department head meeting about 10 days ago and i brought up the idea that it is time for us to put a human face on this program, jobs now. i asked my staff and members of my economic development team to see if we could call if you businesses and a few nonprofits and see if we could get together

about 100 people into a room to tell their story. little did i know 10 days later we would not just have 100 people, but over 1000 people down here at city hall. a big round of applause to all of you for taking the time. i think this goes to the reason we wanted to bring them here. it was not just to introduce you to one another, as wonderful as that is. it was not to introduce you to this program. you already know everything you need to know about it because you are participating in it. it was to make this point. this program is funded only through september 30 of this year. this is an incredibly important point. we said this when we launched this program, that there was a

time limit on this program, that we cannot promise you that we can keep you in that these jobs and these positions past october warn of this year. we also made the case that we are going to do everything in our power to lobby our federal government to extend this program. here is what we did. we went to our friend, our local representative, who just happens to be the speaker of the house, the most powerful woman in the world. nancy pelosi. she jumped at this. she actually, i will be honest with you -- i know her friends are here and i do not want to lay out the speaker of the house. but she was stunned at how successful this program had become.

and she was more stunned that other cities, not just in the state of california at but across the country, had never even heard of it. millions and millions of dollars were sitting there in the stimulus program and over half the states had not even implemented a project in order to draw down those federal moneys. she immediately went out to her colleagues and she made a case for this. she sat me down with the secretary of labor to talk about this. she is from california. she said, "i cannot believe i did not know about this program. this is a great program. i am going to go out and promote its." that is what she did. here is what nancy pelosi did subsequent to our meeting. she went and fast-track legislation and got the house to

pass overwhelmingly an extension of this program for one year. [applause] that was great news. that was great news. but as all of you know from civics class -- you know that bill that washed -- that walked up to capitol hill? remember that cartoon? there are two houses in congress. you have the house of representatives and speaker policy, and then you have something called the senate. here was the good news. we have a friend in the senate. you may know her. she is the former mayor of san francisco, one of the senior senators in this country, and dianne feinstein. she said, "i love this program.

i did not know much about this program. i cannot believe other states are not taking advantage of this program. you should meet with some of my colleagues. " we went out and did that. she got her other colleagues, barbara boxer, to sign up and say we need to promote this. and we got a few dozen other senators to sign to commit to this bill. here is what happened. a few weeks back -- this is stuff you have been reading about our hearing about. there is a lot of debate in congress now about spending money and concerns about deficits. they had a jobs bill in the senate that included an extension of $2.50 million for this program. it would have allowed us to hire

thousands of additional people and support every single one of you for at least the next year. and it got stripped. it got drawn back. i do not want to be partisan here, but let's call balls and strikes. the republicans pulled it out. that is just a fact. and now we have to step up and step in. that is the long winded reason 10 days ago i invited you down here. we need to come together. we need to come together and remind them what is at stake. this is the most successful stimulus program in this country. it is as simple as that. this is working. you are working. you have come back to work. people are bringing food back to the table.

you are supporting your children. you are supporting your children. you are supporting your parents. you are supporting your family. you are supporting this economy. you are supporting the city, the state, and the nation. now we need our representatives to represent that success in the sun at and to support this extension. that is why we are here. we are here to wake up congress. we are here to wake up the u.s. senate. we are here to wake them up because if they do not do their jobs you will not have a job, and that is why we need your help and your support and your voice. and we need it loudly and clearly. let me just conclude by thanking each and every one of you.

we are going to hear from business leaders that have stepped up to the plate. you are going to hear from some of your friends and colleagues that have actually gotten a chance to give jobs. i am going to ask you, "do not leave. i need you." it infuriates me. the right all these stories that talk about it all the time, but there is not one camera here. that is wrong. i appreciate the crown and the examiner here. i want all of you on the steps. i hope the steps can hold us. we are going to do a family photo. we are going to send it all over the country. no other city has done this. we are going to send it to harry reid. we are going to send it to president obama. we are going to send it back

east to congress. so you are not allowed to leave until we do this. but in the interim we are going to hear from people that have stepped up to the plate, 700 businesses. the chamber of commerce stepped up to the plate. we are going to hear from them. we are going to hear their stories. i will conclude by asking all of you to think the staff of the human services agency and their incredible leadership. they have made this happen. they are making this happen. thank you all for being here. now i have an opportunity to hear from [unintelligible] [applause] >> that is leadership. thanks, mayor newsom.

the first meeting i called up side of the human service agency walls was with the chamber of commerce. we did not know much about the program. we knew about the opportunity for businesses in san francisco to hire. we sat down with steve and he had more questions than we had answers, but those questions helped frame the program. moving forward, it was an interesting partnership, and one that was healthy. we would get a lot of very constructive criticism about how we were representing the program. that came from the chamber and the membership of the chamber. it was very helpful in designing on the flight a program started quickly. i am glad steve is with us to say a few things. i want to thank him, the chamber, and the chamber membership on supporting this program and hiring many of you. [applause] >> thank you.

i have to be honest with everyone in the room. the chamber of commerce gets a little bit nervous when someone knocks on our door and says, "i am from city hall. i am here to help." when trent knocked on our door, we opened the door and talked to him. this program sounded too good to be true. we dug into the details and we found out it was true. it was true thanks to our mayor and his insistence we put this program into place. we worked with trent and the staff. he doubted all of the is and cross all of the tees. the results are all with you in this room. [applause] of the 700 businesses that hire 3500 of view, almost all of them

are small businesses. how many of you work for a small business? small business is what makes this city run. we can never lose sight of that. on behalf of the chamber, on behalf of thousands of small businesses around san francisco, thank you mayor. thank you trend. the next time someone knocks on our door from city hall with a great idea, that door will be wide open. thank you. [applause] >> i mentioned a meeting with the governor's office that mayor newsom arranged. there was another individual in that room. that was the governor's point person on the federal stimulus act. he is here with us today. he has since moved on to larger

responsibilities. he is the director of region 9 of health and human services for the federal government. that means that to extension he is my boss. his office oversees several western states under which this federal program lies. he was supported in the governor's office. he is supportive now. i am happy he is here with us. give a round of applause. [applause] >> good morning. can i hear a little bit of jobs now? corks jobs now. >> it is an awesome pleasure for someone who is a resident of san francisco who has been living under the leadership of this mayor. i want to acknowledge his phenomenal leadership and strength. the day he walked into the governor's office -- he has not

stopped. he continues to paul and he is right. he is the national leader in helping the president and the congress see that we must extend this program. right? i want to know how many of you are employees out there that have been hired because of this program. how many of you are employers? let me tell you one thing that i think it is important to know, because the mayor has said it, but let me say it as a representative of this obama administration. this mayor -- the reason we are here celebrating today is not just because this mayor helped you in san francisco. this mayor helped hundreds of thousands of people like you, employers and employees across

the country. they now understand this program. [applause] i have one ask of you today. how many of you have friends, family, and relatives all over the united states? we would like you to call, at e- mail, printer, facebook, and right all of those relatives. say our mayor has done it. our president and health and human services secretary want this extended. call your senators. write your senators. if you are close to washington or their district, visit your senators. say, "i benefited from this

program." we will continue to partner with san francisco and everybody in region nine. with your help, we will partner across the country in order to extend this vital, phenomenal program. thank you very much. >> we are so lucky in san francisco that our representative in the house is speaker policy. we are also lucky that this program is one of her top priorities. she has shown that time and time again. she has been out to sentences go three times in the last month and a half for events related to jobs now. we met with her staff last week. the chief of staff said, "you do not need to meet with us. we know this is a priority." she got her colleagues to pass

it through the house. we are happy to have her deputy director here. she is going to say a few words or presenting speaker policy. [applause] >> what an incredible crowd. i know if speaker policy was here she would be standing on the stage applauding all of you for being part of the jobs now program. thank you all for everything you have done to be part of the jobs now program. although business in washington does prevent speaker policy from being here, she sent me with a brief greeting to read to all of you. "dear friends, thank you for gathering today to recognize the extraordinary success of the jobs now program. i would like to offer my warm congratulations to the employees, the employers, and the local leaders who made this program in national model. your hard work has not only

reached our city. you are also helping lead this country to a lasting recovery. to the jobs no initiative, you have already put more than 36,000 sentence siskins back to work -- 36,000 san franciscans back to work. this is a model that meets the needs of our community. in the house of representatives, i have fought to extend the funds with another $2.50 billion for next year. the jobs now program has shown this nation how important it is that we must maintain the momentum of these solutions. as has been said, we have to call on our senators, specifically senate republicans, to support this important program.

thanks again to the mayor knew some, a trend, and all the support that has made this a success story. congratulations to all of you on this remarkable achievement. warmest regards, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house." thank you all. [applause] >> i took the liberty of going out of order, because i wanted to save the best for last. that is people who directly benefited from this program, employers and employees. we brought them here to briefly tell their stories of how this program affected their business and affected their lives. first is marisa lamonga, with bay area green tours. >> good morning. i am executive director of bay area green tours.

we shine the spotlight on the pioneering models of sustainability in the bay area so that people can see models that work for business and for their lives. we launched bay area green tours november 2008. like any small start up we were met with a lot of challenges. then we were hit with the economic downturn. up until the beginning of the jobs now program, i have one employee, and i did not have access to sufficient capital to take on another. my business was stagnating and i was not making significant progress. there were many times i thought about quitting. then i heard about the jobs now program. that financial support allowed me to hire someone to take care of the most essential part of my business, crafting the tours. that was a huge door opening for me. and is the perfect person to

help me. she had been on one of my tours and is part of the dominican university m.b.a. program. she was in tune with what we did and passionate about our mission. her contribution has gotten our operation of the ground and has been an extension -- an essential function of our progress. my greatest hope is that we continue to grow during the remaining months of the program so we can continue to keep her on staff. i am extremely grateful to the jobs now program and to my business account representative victoria, who a finally met today. she has been incredibly supportive to help us to all the red tape. she has been a joy to work with. i know the momentum we are feeling now is directly in relation to this invaluable resource. it has allowed me to turn a

corner to success, which in turn helps my employees and our local economy. thank you. [applause] >> we did a survey of employers to see what the impact of this was. we asked them a number of questions. one -- did the employees help your business to grow? to -- would you have hired these folks without that? over 80% said this helped businesses grow and increase sales. over 80% said the jobs would not have existed without the federal stimulus money. representing a company called book pig -- [applause] >> thank you.

good morning. my name is tom. i am the founder and ceo. we are a children's book rental service, similar to not flex except with children's books. using our service, families can go online, select books i want, keep them as long as they like, and return them. for a low monthly fee, families get to avoid late fees. they do not have waitlists. we have a great recommendation engine that tracks the reading level and preferences of each child and allows us to recommend books they will love. by allowing parents a convenient and affordable solution to keep a constant supply of books in the house, we encourage children to read more. book pig was founded in october

2009 by two san francisco families. we were unemployed as part of the economic downturn. we thought we would start a business and see how it went. working part-time and unpaid we were able to launch the service and build the product. in march, we heard about jobs now. to be honest, we thought it was too good to be true. but we looked into it w, and we were able to find too great employees. we were able to find too great employees, both unemployed single mothers in this city. to mara is now in charge of operations, props as in orders, and shipping. sarah is in charge of marketing and p.r.. she handles our outreach. these employees have been vital to the success of the company and we are grateful to have